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I don't only have mental templates for "man" and "woman", but also for other categories and/or subcategories such as "transsexual man", "transsexual woman", "lesbian", "butch lesbian", "femme lesbian", "gay man", "male androgyne", "female androgyne", etc. I think these must not be as deeply ingrained in me as the basic "man"/"woman" templates, as they must have been formed much later in my life, but they exist too. An exception might be the "androgyne" categories... in a lot of children's stories and shows I read and watched when I was a kid, I think I perceived many of the characters to be androgynous or masculine/androgynous. For example, animal and other non-human characters and children protagonists. Even girl characters in books were often rather non-girlish or at least non-womanish to me. And that is how I perceive my own gender most of the time, as androgyne... default... not-otherwise-specified.
For people I come across online, if their online name is non-gendered and if they haven't given any clues as to their sex and gender, I tend to perceive them as neutral-masculine until I get other clues, or if I consciously think about it, I try thinking of them as a male/man and then as a woman/female or maybe even some of the other above categories, wondering which way is "right" until my curiosity is answered.
But for people I meet in real life, I generally perceive them based on my "man"/"woman" mental templates.. the other ones listed above I can only apply once I've found out the person is actually in one of those categories. I don't ever look at someone and think they are gay or transgendered; at most I may curiously wonder whether they are or not, and in what way.
For people I come across online, if their online name is non-gendered and if they haven't given any clues as to their sex and gender, I tend to perceive them as neutral-masculine until I get other clues, or if I consciously think about it, I try thinking of them as a male/man and then as a woman/female or maybe even some of the other above categories, wondering which way is "right" until my curiosity is answered.
But for people I meet in real life, I generally perceive them based on my "man"/"woman" mental templates.. the other ones listed above I can only apply once I've found out the person is actually in one of those categories. I don't ever look at someone and think they are gay or transgendered; at most I may curiously wonder whether they are or not, and in what way.